Minnesota job seekers outnumber full-time job openings 10-1

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_4778

22 February 2011

ST. PAUL - As Minnesota lawmakers focus on anti-labor legislation instead of a job-creation agenda, more and more state residents find themselves jockeying for fewer and fewer full-time jobs.

The latest Job Vacancy Survey by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development shows 206,000 unemployed Minnesotans are competing for 33,800 unfilled jobs. Of these openings, only 20,600 are full-time. This means job seekers outnumber full-time job openings by 10-to-1.

In the last decade, the number of job openings fell by 76 percent, according to analysis by the JOBS NOW Coalition. Minnesota had 140,000 job openings in 2000, but three-quarters of them disappeared during the 2001 recession and the two years that followed, the coalition said.

“The survey shows a steep decline in opportunities for Minnesota workers, a decline that cannot be attributed only to the two recessions,” JOBS NOW Education Director Kevin Ristau said. “Besides the recessions, we also had four years of recovery when almost nothing was recovered – part of an entire decade of job market failure.”

“We challenge all Minnesotans to come to the aid of and help advance the cause of ordinary job losers, job seekers and the job poor. How will you answer the hardest question about our economic future: Who will decide the fate of our most precious state resource – its workers?”

For more information
View the latest Job Vacancy Survey: http://www.positivelyminnesota.com/Data_Publications/Data/Current_Economic_Highlights/Job_Vacancies.aspx

:hi:

K&R